Some of us have to live with these frustrated plants in our homes. It does say that whether the situation is bad or good, it will work together for good for you if you are one who is loved and called by God. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last. The word means "to crane the neck, to look on with a visible sense of anticipation that something is about to happen." Romans 8:35-37 God’s Everlasting Love. Paul mentions “the sufferings of this present time” (8:18). These will soon pass away; but that glory shall never become dim or diminished; it will increase and expand forever and ever. (Romans 8:17 NIV). All of this is because of the fall of man. There is more involved in this program of patient waiting, as the apostle goes on to explain in Verses 26-27: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Out of this grows the assurance that no matter what happens, it will work together for good. (18-25) Their assistance from the Spirit in prayer. Romans 8:28 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] Romans 8:28, NIV: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Therefore, what is happening to us now is something that we never need to see as meaningless. Have you ever thought of afflictions in that way? I do not think anything will transform our sufferings more than remembering that. (Romans 8:28 NIV). We are being prepared for something -- we can't really tell what it is, specifically, but we are getting ready for something. He is able to make us feel at peace even when there is turmoil all around. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group. None shall hurt and destroy in all of God's holy mountain. We thank you, our Father, for these mighty promises. The whisper of this in the Old Testament increases in intensity as it approaches the New Testament, where you come to proclamations like this that speak of the incomparable glory that lies ahead. 1. 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Romans 8:28, ESV: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." This case is perfectly cl Adam Clarke Commentary. By this, therefore, Christians maybe sustained. Because we have these firstfruits we can wait patiently for the hour when, at last, even our bodies will be set free, and we shall step into an incomparable glory, such as we have never imagined or seen before. He was beaten, he was stoned with rocks, he was chained, he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked, starved, often hungry and naked and cold. That is why I think that boredom is the most non-Christian attitude that we can have. This describes the groans of the Spirit within, so deep and so impossible to verbalize that we cannot say anything at all. Nature is groaning, we are groaning, and now the Spirit is groaning with words which cannot be uttered. At least half of the lumber that was cut was never removed and was left to rot. Then I have to remind myself, "Well, they are still children of God, even though it does not yet appear what they shall be." Paul says this again very plainly in Philippians 1:29: For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him [or, for his name's sake], (Philippians 1:29 NIV). The apostle says that we do not know what to pray for as we ought. Now, in anticipation of that day, the apostle says, nature groans, but it groans in hope (Verse 22): We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:19 NIV). In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us that we are never to be troubled or anxious, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, we are to let our requests be made known to God. We groan because of the ravages that sin makes in our lives, and in the lives of those we love. It will burst into a bloom and fecundity that no one can possibly imagine now. The desert will blossom like the rose, the prophet says, and the lions will lie down with the lambs. Romans 8:18. It is at that time, the apostle tells us, that the Spirit of God within us voices, without words, his request to the Father. It is not going to be revealed to us, but in us. Romans 8:31-34 If God is For Us Who Can be Against Us? Paul tells us that this praying of the Spirit is done with groans which words cannot express. It is a glory that will be "revealed into us," and we are part of it. Our afflictions are working for us. No one, in all the wildest dreams of science fiction, has ever imagined or conceived of something so vast and so magnificent as the glory God has waiting for us. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. But this passage has nothing to do with that. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. They rejoiced in their sufferings. (Romans 8:20-21 NIV). The word, literally, means "into us." We thank you for them. The Christian viewpoint is that, though the body is in pain and suffering and is limited now, this is an important aspect of our lives. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you," (Matthew 5:11-12 KJV).Nothing will help us more in enduring suffering than a clear view of the glory that is linked to it. Paul says here that though we ourselves are redeemed in spirit, our bodies are not yet redeemed; we, too, are groaning. Romans 8:9-17. Are not worthy to be compared - Are nothing in comparison; the one is far more than an equivalent. (2 Corinthians 4:17 RSV). As this passage makes clear, glory is given to us as part of our inheritance in Christ. This is the law of infinite increase of entropy. But what makes it possible to wait is that we already have the firstfruits of the Spirit. The Coming of Christ is always thus conceived of as a visible manifestation of glory in those who take part in it. And yet it is this apostle who takes pen in hand and says, "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Anxiety shines a spotlight for us on how much we need the Lord. This verse links together two things that we probably would not put together: sufferings and glory -- hurts and hallelujahs. It was man's sin that made the animals hate and fear each other and brought predators and carnivores into being. That is a literal rendering of what Paul says here, and it means that glory has a great deal of freedom about it. Subject to permissions policy, all rights reserved. The word Spirit occurs over and over throughout the chapter. (Romans 8:18 NIV). With the glory - The happiness; the honor in heaven. God is working out his purposes within us. It is something that is part of the whole program and plan of God, part of the privilege committed to us as Christians. Who hopes for what he already has? The Spirit is putting our prayer into a form which God the Father, who searches the heart, understands. We are going to be involved in it. It is true that hope, by its very nature, is something yet in the future -- "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. (Romans 8:18-22) The passage begins with a general statement about the comparative significance of suffering and glory. They want to get away from it all. All must plead guilty. It is precisely for this reason Paul later moves on in Romans 8:26-39 and discusses God's great plan of salvation and His love for us. Everything is decaying; everything, with no exception, is running down. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. Their sufferings may seem great; but they should remember that they are nothing in comparison with future glory. Not only does nature testify to this bondage, bearing witness to the hope that is waiting, but, Paul says, we ourselves have this testimony. I would like to share with you a paragraph or two from his message, The Weight of Glory: We are to shine as the sun. Verses 19-22 explain the testimony that is found in nature. Paul wrote it during his stay in Corinth, probably about 57 *A.D.. 2. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the la… This passage helps us in our understanding of prayer. However, the central emphasis of the chapter isn't the Spirit, but the assurance that Christians possess: • However, the church in Rome was not the result of the work of any one particular person. 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Listen to the roaring of the tide. It's just like holding up a mirror before me. No one in this room has gone through even a fraction of the suffering that Paul endured. We know that the Spirit of God is able to give joy in the midst of heartache. You may leave this service this morning and become involved in an automobile accident on the way home. That is the theme that Paul brings to a focus in Verses 18-28 of Romans 8. Romans 7:7-25. We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know how to analyze it, or how to explain it, or how to ask God to do something about it. They belong together, and you find them together in almost every passage of Scripture that deals with the suffering of the Christian. This is the judgment of things the apostle made, "I reckon" or "I think" which is said, not as his bare opinion, or as in the least doubting the truth of what he said; but having deliberately weighed things in his mind, and reasoned upon them, came to this conclusion, that so it must be. I don't think the Scriptures ever support that idea of Christians. 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